The bottom line is clear: Our vital interests in Afghanistan are limited and military victory is not the key to achieving them. On the contrary, waging a lengthy counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan may well do more to aid Taliban recruiting than to dismantle the group, help spread conflict further into Pakistan, unify radical groups that might otherwise be quarreling amongst themselves, threaten the long-term health of the U.S. economy, and prevent the U.S. government from turning its full attention to other pressing problems. -- Afghanistan Study Group

Reported security incidents#1: At least 21 terrorists were killed as securityjetsattacked terrorist hideouts in Orakzai and Khyber agencies on Tuesday. Fourteen terrorists were killed in jet planes-shelling in Mamozai area of the Orakzai Agency, officials said on Tuesday. According to officials, the security forces launched an operation against terrorists in the Orakzai Agency and the jet fighters targeted terrorist positions in Mamozai, killing 14 terrorists and injuring several others.#2: Separately, security forces claim to have killed seven terrorists and wounded four others in air strikes conducted by the forces' jets in Dwa Toai area of Jamrud tehsil, a sub-division of Khyber Agency, official sources said on Tuesday. Sources said that on Monday night, the forces' warplanes targeted suspected hideouts of terrorists in the far-flung Tirah Valley, killing the terrorists immediately. However, the local leaders of the area regretted and condemned the action of the forces and said that forces' airplanes bombarded civilian population and killed innocent tribesmen, which must be looked upon.#3: A BRISBANE-based soldier has reportedly been wounded in Afghanistan. Sky News reported that the soldier was injured in an explosion. The incident comes as a homemade bomb killed a member of the NATO coalition in southern Afghanistan, hours after the Taliban attacked a hilltop police post in the north, killing eight Afghan policemen, officials say. The death raised the number of coalition troops who have been killed in Afghanistan this year to 173. The coalition did not provide any further details about Wednesday's attack. The policemen who were attacked by the Taliban on Tuesday evening in Badakhsan province's Warduj district waged a three-hour battle to retake their post, killing six militants in the process, said the provincial governor's spokesman, Abdul Maruf Rasikh. Two policemen and 11 militants were wounded, he said.

#4: Elsewhere in Afghanistan, three district government employees were killed by a roadside bomb as they were traveling to work Wednesday morning in eastern Nangarhar province's Deh Bala district, said district chief Asrarullah.

#5: Afghan and the NATO-led troops during a combine operation backed by airpower have killed 22 Taliban fighters including 18 foreigners in Khost province, 150 km southeast of capital Kabul, a local official said Wednesday. "In the operation conducted with the support of NATO-led forces in Woza village of Musa Khil district on May 28, four local Taliban insurgents and 18 foreigners were killed,"Asmatullah, spokesman for border police force in the area, told Xinhua.

#6: According to local authorities in eastern Nangarhar province at least 8 Afghan civilians were killed following explosion in this province. The officials further added the incident took place at Khogyani district after unknown gunmen attacked a residential house with hand grenades killing at least 5 family members including an Afghan child. In a separate incident at least 3 people were killed following an explosion at Haska Mina in this province, local officials said. Provincial governor spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said the incident took place after after a vehicle carrying two government employees along with a local tribal elder, struck with the roadside bomb.

#7: The officials further added a number of Taliban militants ambushed an Afghan national army check post at Keshk-Kohna district in western Herat province, killing at least 1 Afghan soldier and injuring 4 others. A spokesman for Afghan national army in western regions of the country Najeebullah Najeebi confirming the report said at least 4 militants were also killed following the clashes.

#8: In a separate incident at Pusht-e-Rod district of western Farah province at least 1 Afghan soldier was killed and another soldier was injured following a roadside bomb explosion.

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"However, the local leaders of the area regretted and condemned the action of the forces and said that forces' airplanes bombarded civilian population and killed innocent tribesmen, which must be looked upon."